Jiwon Choi (b.1996) is an emerging artist gaining recognition for her paintings that capture contemporary emotions through the imagery of antique porcelain dolls. She borrows the forms of old, worn artificial and natural objects collected from everyday life to explore beings that, despite having fulfilled their time, continue to exist and influence the present. 

These beings are depicted on canvas as the result of a symbolic act—an attempt to understand both the meaning of life in the contemporary era and the world the artist herself inhabits.

Jiwon Choi has consistently depicted "lifeless objects" throughout her artistic practice. Using replicas of human and animal figures as her subjects, she channels personal sensations and experiences through these inanimate beings. Her signature porcelain doll paintings, which brought her recognition in the art world, first emerged in 2019. 

The porcelain dolls she draws inspiration from were originally produced by European companies in the late 19th century after adopting Chinese ceramic techniques from the 17th century. However, rather than focusing on the historical background of these dolls, the artist is more interested in their texture, tactility, and materiality.

Jiwon Choi draws a parallel between contemporary emotions and the dual nature of porcelain dolls—objects with a dazzlingly smooth surface and a solid exterior, yet fragile and hollow inside, prone to shattering in an instant if handled carelessly. Through this, she reflects on the state of modern individuals, who appear flawless on the outside but live in a constant state of anxiety and tension, as well as the fleeting nature of emotions that are easily consumed and swiftly discarded. 

Building on this idea, Choi began incorporating the sleek, glossy visual qualities of porcelain figurines into her depictions of human figures. The smooth-skinned subjects in her paintings remain expressionless and unreactive—unfazed by fireworks exploding around them or walking boldly through eerie forest paths, embodying an eerie sense of emotional detachment.

Additionally, Choi often magnifies the porcelain doll’s face to fill the entire canvas or focuses on its static upper body. This compositional choice naturally draws the viewer’s attention to the doll’s cold, expressionless face and vacant gaze. Through these depictions, Choi aims to convey the unease and emotional numbness experienced by people in contemporary society.

These smooth, glossy porcelain figures faithfully convey the emotions of the present era in Choi’s work. The sense of anxiety shared by the artist and today’s younger generation is best described as a state of "hopelessness" and "lethargy." The looming uncertainty of the future has intensified a crisis that now lingers in the collective unconscious as a pervasive sense of unease. 

Furthermore, Choi expresses this contemporary emotional state not only through the porcelain dolls’ surfaces but also by incorporating various elements. Sharp thorns, flames, lenses, and tears appear alongside the figures, visually manifesting anxious emotions in different contexts.

The portrayal of lifeless dolls shedding tears or wearing contact lenses evokes an uncanny sensation. Through these elements, the artist seeks to awaken the nonexistent senses of the inanimate figures. By forcing them to weep or fitting lenses onto sightless eyes, Choi renders them eerily lifelike, blurring the boundary between the inanimate and the living.

In Choi Jiwon's paintings, the juxtaposition of contrasting and foreign elements activates sensory experiences beyond the visual by creating a clash of textures. For instance, in the ‘Fog of Thorns’ (2021) series, sharp thorns are placed in front of smooth porcelain faces, heightening the contrast in texture and intensifying the viewer's sensory perception—both visual and tactile. 

The tactile quality conveyed through sight in her works provokes an urge to touch, subtly engaging the viewer’s underlying desires.

The artist also projects light from varying angles onto each element within the composition, deliberately creating a clash of disparate sensations within a single canvas. For example, in Thorn Flowers and a Woman (2021), the artist meticulously captures the subtle reflections and delicate shimmer on the porcelain-like skin of the figure. In contrast, the ornate flowers and thorns in the background appear flattened, making it difficult to discern a clear light source. 

This visual contrast evokes a sense of fragility and tension, reminiscent of a life on the verge of breaking. Standing before the painting, the viewer experiences an acute awareness of the present moment—almost as if holding a piece of glass in their hands.

Since 2022, new elements such as doors, blinds, and curtains—barriers that delineate the inside from the outside—have begun to appear in her paintings. Positioned between porcelain figurines or between the figures and the viewer, these elements suggest both closure and openness, embodying a liminal quality. 

Situated within these ambiguous boundaries, the porcelain figurines further reflect the unstable and complex emotions of contemporary individuals, manifesting in a variety of situations.

Recently, Jiwon Choi’s work has shown a gradual expansion beyond the porcelain figurines, extending into the surrounding space. In her 2023 solo exhibition 《Collecting Chamber》 at ThisWeekendRoom, she presented paintings that constructed a "chamber" where porcelain dolls, objects resembling living beings, or remnants of once-living creatures were placed. 

Observing the ornaments quietly resting in her room—porcelain figurines, an old cuckoo clock shaped like a birdhouse, and dried insects fallen on the windowsill—Choi experienced the fragility and fleeting beauty of life. Focusing on the forms and existential meanings of these objects, she moved her brush as if breathing life into them, repositioning them within a self-defined, surreal space.

Objects that have come to a standstill, having exhausted their life force, occupy a space between life and death, past and present, within Jiwon Choi’s paintings. The spaces in which these objects are placed are composed of architectural elements with dual characteristics, metaphorically revealing their existence.

For instance, Into the Chamber of the Time (2023) divides the given space into sections, yet connects them through doors that allow passage, while Blue Moon (2023) draws the figurines inside through the structure of a glass window.

In this way, structures such as doors, windows, frames, and blinds, which constitute the chamber, function as symbolic portals that traverse the gap between life and death. As the viewers peer into the chambers opened by the artist, they recall the moments where the boundary between life and death collapses, experiencing both tension and liberation within these spaces.

In this way, Jiwon Choi’s still life paintings, as the artist herself states, are “works placed between life and death.” She reflects on herself and her surroundings through objects that are beautiful yet fleeting, solid yet fragile, and in her own way, breathes life into them.

Her paintings, which intersect opposing qualities such as life and death, beauty and transience, solidity and fragility, subtly generate feelings of numbness, isolation, anxiety, and tension that permeate the lives of contemporary individuals, conveying a sense of empathy to the viewers.

“I want to convey the feeling of conflicting and contradictory emotions, like things that are beautiful but scary, close but distant, strong but fragile, all manifesting at once. I believe that moments where dual elements coexist come together to create the landscape of the present. I hope to depict emotions that everyone can relate to in our time and, through that, provide a sense of empathy and comfort to many people.” (Jiwon Choi, Urbanlike Interview, January 2022)

Jiwon Choi graduated from the Department of Western Painting and the Graduate School of the same department at Ewha Womans University. Her solo exhibitions include 《The Paused Moment》 (PARKSEOBO FOUNDATION, Seoul, 2024), 《Collecting Chamber》 (ThisWeekendRoom, Seoul, 2023), and 《Cold Flame》 (ThisWeekendRoom, Seoul, 2020).

Recent group exhibitions she participated in include 《Stemming from Umwelt》 (Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2024), 《Inter-frame》 (Backstage, Shanghai, 2024), 《Memories Beneath the Ego, Fantasy Above the Ego》 (Seoul National University Museum of Art, Seoul, 2023), 《Future Solos 2》 (WESERHALLE, Berlin, 2023), 《The Most Brilliant Moments For You》 (Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan, 2022), 《Veil of Thought》 (Ilwoo Space, Seoul, 2022), and more.

Jiwon Choi was selected for the 2024 Kiaf HIGHLIGHTS Awards and the 2022 Public Art New Heroe. Her works are part of collections at the MMCA Art Bank, PARKSEOBO FOUNDATION, X Museum in China, and White Rabbit Gallery in Australia.

References

• 디스위켄드룸, 최지원 (ThisWeekendRoom, Jiwon Choi) 
• 디스위켄드룸, [서문] 차가운 불꽃 – 이가현 (ThisWeekendRoom, [Preface] Cold Flame – Gahyun Lee)
• 메종 마리끌레르 코리아, 인형의 꿈, 2024.05.17
• 현대리바트, [인터뷰] 청춘은 차갑다, 작가 최지원
• 키아프 서울, [ARTICLES] ARTIST INSIDE 2022 : 불안하고 위태로운 청춘의 초상
• 디스위켄드룸, [서문] 0인칭의 자리 – 박지형 (ThisWeekendRoom, [Preface] Is there any place for us? –  Jihyung Park)
• 어반라이크, COLLECTOR’S FAVORITE, 2022년 1월호